Meet the Martins

From European Voice's Entre-Nous column

7/21/10, 9:02 PM CET

Updated 4/23/14, 9:04 PM CET

Austrian MEP quits and leaves behind Martin and Martin.

Austrian MEP Angelika Werthmann was elected to the European Parliament last year on the list ‘Dr Martin – für Demo-kratie, Kontrolle, Gerechtigkeit’, which takes its name from Hans-Peter Martin, the journalist turned politician, who campaigns for transparency in the Parliament but has had some difficulties with his own standards of transparency.

The list won three seats: Hans-Peter Martin himself, Martin Ehrenhauser, the former head of his private office, and Werthmann, a former teacher.

Werthmann has now resigned from the delegation, but not from the Parliament, complaining that Martin had refused to tell her what happened to millions of euros in campaign finance for the 2004 and 2009 elections, a charge that Martin rejects. She also cited disagreements on social and healthcare policies.

So now that the Third Woman has gone, everyone left on Dr Martin’s list is called Martin, though Ehrenhauser is a chef by training, not a doctor. And don’t make any jokes about cooking the books…